Lesson Plan.

'LIVE FREE IN JAPAN'

Level: Form 2 (Intermediate to Advanced)

Time: 2 periods of 70 minutes

Theme/Topic: People - Changing Scene 'Live FREE in Japan'

Language Content: Grammar - Verb and Adjectives

Educational Emphases: Thinking skills, Multiple Intelligences, ICT skills

Previous Knowledge:

1) Students have learnt of verb as the action word and the types of verbs

2) Students have learnt adjectives as describing the noun

3) Students have basic computer skills to surf the Internet

Aims: By the end of the lesson, students should be able to

1) Skim and scan text for information

2) Apply information transfer effectively and efficiently

3) Use internet browser and search engine to look for information

Moral Values:

1) Students will appreciate other cultures upon the understanding of such culture

2) Students will reflectively appreciate their own cultures through the comparison with other culture

Technical requirements:

1) Fully functioning desktop personal computers shared among 2 - 3 students per computer

2) Internet connection

3) Web browsers

4) Microsoft Word 2003 or 2007

5) Hot Potatoes 6

Preparation:

1) Browse for websites on 'free things in Japan' using Google.com

2) Browse for picture of 'Doraemon' on Yahoo! Image

3) Identify the website Pingmag.jp and the free things to do in Japan (altogether 10 free things)

3) Review the website to check the content is age appropriate and suitable for the lesson

4) Determine a search engine that can cater to all the students' need during the activity

5) Prepare the lesson and electronic worksheet using Hot Potatoes 6 JQuiz out of the information available on the website.

Websites:

1) Google (www.google.com)

2) Yahoo! Image (www.images.search.yahoo.com)

3) Youtube (www.youtube.com)

4) PingMag (www.pingmag.jp)

Procedure:

Set Induction

(5 minutes)

1) Teacher displays the image of 'Doraemon' on the screen using the electronic projector

2) Teacher asks students of things that come into their minds upon seeing the picture

3) Teacher elicits responses from students based on the picture

4) Teacher directs students' responses into the topic of the day on 'Japan'

Pre Activity

(5 minutes)

1) Teacher gives brief explanation on Japan as the most prosperous country in Asia as well as the Look East Policy to highlight the point of Malaysia being modeled after the country

2) Teacher asks for students' opinion on the country, of what they know of, such as the currency 'Yen', the price, etc

3) Teacher gives a quick trivia on the expensive price of item in Japan, such as RM20 for a tin of Coca Cola

4) Teacher asks for students' opinion on whether there are free things that can be done in Japan

5) Teacher launches students into the lesson of the day on 'Live FREE in Japan'

Activity 1

(25 minutes)

1) Teacher redirects students on the topic of 'Doraemon'

2) Teacher assigns students into groups of 2 to 3 students per group per computer.

3) Teacher explains the instruction:

i) In groups, launch the web browser and type in the word 'Youtube'

ii) Click on the link to the Youtube web (www.youtube.com)

iii) Type in 'Doraemon theme song with lyric'

iv) Together with the whole class, everyone sings to the song in unison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz7LDSORrP0

4) Teacher instructs students to open up new tab and type in the PingMag url

http://pingmag.jp/2006/01/13/10-things-to-do-for-free/.

Alternatively, they can follow the steps below:

(www.pingmag.co.jp)>archive>january 2006>10 things to do for free in Tokyo

5) Teacher asks students to study the article on '10 things to do for free in Tokyo'

Activity 2

(20 minutes)

1) Teacher instructs students to open the worksheet named 'ThingsFreeJapan.htm'

2) Teacher allocates 15 minutes for students to answer the questions.

3) Teacher discusses the answers with students.

4) Teacher corrects students' answers as and when necessary.

Conclusion

(5 minutes)

1) Teacher elicits response from the students to recap the lesson of the day

2) Teacher implicitly discusses the moral values they learn on the lesson

3) Teacher congratulates students on their effort

Follow-up Activity

Teacher assigns students to fill in the worksheet on '5 things to do for free in Malaysia'. Students are to copy in their pendrive worksheet entitled 'Things Free Malaysia.doc'. The worksheet should be printed and submitted by hand the following week.

Manganime o (yo)mimasho! (Let's read and watch manganime!)

Manganime is a term used to refer to two words, namely manga and anime. They are the comics and animations originated from Japan and have gained worldwide popularity to be published in many other countries and many other languages than Nihongo.

In Japan, the cartoonist is called as mangaka and they are often called as sensei as a form of respect, even though they are not really teachers. Like every other profession, mangaka is a serious, lifetime profession although they work on flexible hours from the comfort of their own home. Just as any other magazine that has deadline, mangaka too has deadlines to meet, so to assist in the production of the manga on time, mangaka is often assisted by assistants who do coloring, inking and so on. Nowadays, manga can be read online, and one such web is OneManga.

Manga and anime are closely related. If manga is the comic, anime is the animation of the comic said, that is the 'live animation' of the cartoon characters and the plot. At the moment, three of the most popular manga and anime (hence is called as manganime) are Naruto, Bleach and One Piece. Naruto is drawn by Masashi Kishimoto, Bleach is by Tite Kubo, and One Piece is drawn by Eiichiro Oda. The mangas are published under one very popular and influential magazine in Japan, the Weekly Shonen Jump.

Article Review

The title of the article is

'Class Research on Learning Methods in Movie-based Computer Assisted Language Learning'.

http://www.code.u-air.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/No.6-13kenkyuushiryou06.pdf

It was published in the Journal of Multimedia Aided Education Research 2007, Vol. 3, No. 2, 125 -136.

The authors were as follows:



The article is about investigating the effectiveness of computer assisted language learning (CALL) utilizing the Synchronized Multimedia Interactive Learning Environment for Multi-mode Education (SMILE for ME) program for improving students' English skills, namely helping students become used to listening to natural speed English. In the study, the researchers employed three different methods of teaching. One class used a movie but not the SMILE for ME program, one class used SMILE for ME only at home for preparation, and one class used SMILE for ME in the classroom. For the Movie Group, 39 students were enrolled in the first term of 2004. The class was held in a traditional LL classroom without access to computers. In class, students watched the movie Awakenings and used original paper-based materials that matched the SMILE for ME program. These materials were designed to facilitate the students' CALL activities. They could also use the audio recordings of the movie at any time outside class for practice. For the Self-study Group, 38 students were enrolled in the second term of 2004. The class was held in an LL classroom without access to computers. SMILE for ME was used exclusively for self-study at home. In class, paper-based materials were used and the results of self-study were reviewed. For the CALL Group: 20 students were enrolled in the second term year of 2004. The class was held in a computer assisted LL classroom. In class, students made extensive use of SMILE for ME on computers and used paper-based materials. They had no access to the SMILE for ME program outside the classroom. It was found that the CALL Group, which used the SMILE for ME most extensively in the classroom setting, showed the most significant improvement in their listening skills. The Movie Group that did not use the SMILE for ME program on a computer but practiced the focused dialogue extensively by watching the movie Awakenings in the LL also showed a remarkable improvement. It was therefore considered that the use of the movie was helpful and the combination of the movie with the CALL system was particularly effective.



I found the research to be very interesting to use movies as the medium from which to analyze, listen to and adapt to the English conversation at the most authentic and natural speed, as opposed to the somewhat mechanical utterances usually found in listening coursewares and such. Especially because of the fact that the study was conducted in Japan, it is known that Japan and the people have very strong accent of the Nihongo (Japanese language) and it is not particularly easy for them to listen to and adapt with the speech pattern and speed of that of the English speakers. Given that the research was an extension or a continuation from the 2003 research on nursing students in Niigata, Japan, as previously described (Yamamoto & Okura 2004), where the main objective of the project was to deepen the students' awareness and understanding of medical ethics, and that it succeeded, the research was grounded on the concept of drill-and-practice and in the case of the present study as being the same. Through the thorough researches over the years, the researchers were able to see the connection between using movies as computer-assisted language learning method to help improving certain aspects of learners, in this case being the listening competence. The methods used were also standardized, with standardized tests for general listening competence were used. The tests were given before and after the program. The 32nd JACET Basic Listening Comprehension Test Form A as a pretest and Form B as the posttest were used to name a few, so I do think the research is well-conducted. From the research, there are many implications in the teaching and learning of ESL in the general and Malaysian context. The first one is that using movies that use authentic language and the speed of speech could help to improve students' listening competence better than using the mechanical, unnatural language found in a typical listening coursewares. The second one is that educators and researchers in the Malaysian ESL context could benefit from this research by utilizing this method, with the knowledge of the success of our Asian counterparts, Japan. If the Japanese who are highly imbued and absorbed in their own language could succeed from this, then there should not be a reason why the Malaysian ESL learners could not and must not benefit from the same method.

(743 words)

ESL Website Evaluation

The website I have chosen to evaluate is English Media Lab(www.englishmedialab.com)

1) What does the application attempt to "teach"?

Basically, all ESL websites attempt to "teach' the basic four skills which is the umbrella of language learning. This site is no exception, perhaps only the writing and speaking skill is being left out. This is probably because of its concern towards developing the foundation of the other skills, e.g grammar, vocabulary, and listening that consequently would lead to the development of speaking through series of listening and the development of writing through series of grammar and vocabulary activities. It is also perhaps of the unavailability of the 'real time' interaction, hence it is believed that such skills would be tested through asynchronous communication, e.g email and written feedback on the site. The "teaching" is comfortably tailored to three different levels: Beginner, Elementary, and Higher. Note the wording for the levels is nicely constructed to avoid rigidity parallel to the schooling system and instead focusing on the proficiency of the learners' ability, respectively. Unrestricted to the 'normal' requirement of the proficiency, the application also attempts to 'teach' Survival English, most probably for foreigners to learn just enough English to SURVIVE. How interesting.

2) What sorts of things is the application user expected to do with regards to learning the content?

With regards to learning the content, user is expected to do a series of things. It begins with user being exposed to video lessons which caters to the visual style of learning. The video lessons serve as the replication of the classroom lectures which expose students to the theories and the explanation prior to the application of the theories. Such video lessons entail different categories specific to the needs of the user, e.g. Places, Animals, Fruits, Time, Day and so on. Through the expose, user is then expected to self-evaluate themselves through the means of Self-Grading Quizzes, conveniently located under the video lessons, at the bottom of the same page. This saves the hassles from scrolling through different pages which could frustrate the not-so computer literate user. Just as variety are the video lessons, so do the quizzes, which are categorically separated for individual type of assessment, e.g there are quizzes for grammar, vocabulary and such, respectively.





3) What sorts of computer skills is the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the application?

First off, user is expected to have the knowledge of plugins, and to know which applications which are provided operate on which software/application. For example, in the Beginner level, teaching is facilitated through the use of video slides, developed by Kisi, a teacher with many years of experience in teaching English, and the videos run on two formats, which is either Windows Media or Flash. Thus, user is expected to have basic computer/software skills to identify which is which and utilizes the knowledge to operate the video lessons provided on the site.

Secondly, they must have the hyperlink skill to say the least, to know which button or link to click on to, and to know which link goes to which section or page. They must not be baffled at this, or that even simple links as these would turn out to be a maze for them.

4) While you are "playing"/"accessing"/"assessing" the application, does it remind you of anything you do in a classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?

Yes, certainly. It feels like a deja vu. First of all, the video lessons, like I said earlier, replicate the Power Point presentation type of lecturing used by the lectures in the classroom. So it actually feels like being in a classroom, more or less even without the lecturer. So the feel is there, and so the motivation ought to be there as well, since, as much as we 'love to hate' the classroom atmosphere, we also 'hate to love' the fact that that atmosphere is what keep us in focus in learning. The quizzes and games available in the application also mimic the use of flashcards, charts and diagrams utilized by teachers in the classroom. They cater to the need of the visual learner.

This application also reminds me of the time when I involve in self-study. I remembered learning Japanese online, and being a self-taught student, one of the things I would look for would be the grammar and vocabulary section, since they are the 'building blocks' of the language, of which without one cannot 'learn' and 'use' and 'function' in the language. As they lay out the section conveniently, user can scroll through the pages with ease, thus facilitate the teaching and learning process better.

5) Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?

Let's begin with the theory of behaviorism. Behaviorists believe that language learning is a matter of formation of habit. And in developing such habit, one particular exercise has contributed largely to such formation, and such exercise is known as the drill practice. It also kind of progressing backward to the era of the 'Audiolingual Method', also known as the 'Army Method', where stress on listening drill was profound. Courseware such as Linguaphone highly adopts this method to considerable success, and regardless of the purported extinction of the Audiolingual Method, people always fall back to it to some degrees without them realizing it.

On the other hand, it also caters to the domain of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). The drills provided do provide for the practice towards communicating in real life, albeit superficial as it is. Of course, it is questionable on how 'communicative' drills can be, but as I has said earlier, foundation is very important, and to survive is better than to go adrift.

On the other note, seems to me that Lev Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is also at work. This is mainly due to the inclusion of hint. ZPD lays out that there are zones where students or learners can work on a certain task on their own, and for some others, they require the scaffolding from others, which, in usual case, teachers. However, even without teachers, ZPD is still applied here as the hint works just as much.

6) How well is the constructivist theory of learning applied to the chosen website(s)?

First of all, let's define constructivist theory. Constructivist, or social constructivist really began and pioneered by Lev Vygotsky, a Russian researcher as a dedication to his longitudinal study on his daughter. Constructivist believe in the role of the environment - the society and the people, where meaning is 'constructed' from. One of the salient theme of constructivist is the role and value of private speech. Private speech, as the name suggests, happens when a person is having a dialogue with himself or herself. Thus, especially without the confinement of a traditional 'brick and mortar' classroom, speech is highly encouraged, and such speech becomes even more private with the absence of teacher and/or fellow classmates. Through private speech, a person is trying to make meanings out of things, and in this case, the website. He or she begins to question and query the relevancy, effectiveness and the efficiency of the site and consequently, constructs meaning of which he/she thinks as the best or most suitable. Thus, through very much of the self-regulated hands-on learning, user as learner will almost inevitable adopt the constructivist theory of learning themselves, mainly out of their experience of meddling and fiddling with the website. So I would say YES, given the points I deliberated on.

7) In 1980s and early 1990s, there was a major debate on 'whether the computer was "master" of or "slave" to the learning process (Higgins and Johns, 1984). In relation to your evaluation - was the computer a replacement for teachers, or merely an obedient servant to students?

I definitely believe with conviction that computer is a replacement for teachers, AND in a good way. By replacing, I mean that computer will NOT be a permanent replacement, but more of
like marginal or additional 'teacher' wherever there is a computer and an internet connection. Let's face it. However great a teacher is, he or she won't be around to linger upon the students on 24/7 basis. What more with the quality Academic Learning Time (ALT), exactly how many minutes are really used up tactfully is still a big question mark. Thus, computer is the 'master' to learning process, a master who, like Yoda, is a master of knowledge (or be programmed to be so) and we as protege, never a slave.

The case of computer being a total master was nicely highlighted in the movie A.I. (Artificial Intelligence). The case in point was proved when computer, with such rigidity of a pre-programmed system, has zero tolerance on any 'discrepancy' deemed as harmful. Even when the older computers were scraped and wasted away came to the 'realization' and having their own 'mind', to the other computers (or androids), they are just mere defects. A.I., while is still considerably far away achieved from what been depicted in the movie, still suffer from the lack of the 'human touch' to it, as at the end of the day, we are dealing with humans. And so I believe that is the reason why people are stressing on the 'human capital' now, especially for Singapore, a tiny country island who relies very much on the human capital.

8) Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?

I would say, YES, due to a number of reasons.

i) Affordability

ESL Website is relatively cheaper than courseware (even where subscription is concerned of)

ii) Up-to-date

Compared to coursewares which progress literally stopped upon being 'burned' into the CD-ROM, websites are more dynamic and constantly updated for news and views and whatnots. Of course, more softwares are constantly updated now, but to install and upgrade would seem to be quite a hassle, to make a comparison.

iii) Flexibility

The use of computers and website as 'teachers' transcends beyond the traditional classroom, and beyond the normal hours of work and study. Thus, convenience-wise, it is very convenient to cater to different schedule for different people.

iv) Effectiveness

The website is written by credible teachers with years of experience who might not have the chance to produce their own coursewares or books, but nevertheless are equal, if not better than the writers and producers. Given the premise of the web which allows the publication at relatively low cost and much independence (with guidance), there is no reason to be skeptical to not believe in the credibility of the site.

v) Practicality

Eventually, computers WILL surpass other forms of technologies. Books will become irrelevant and replaced with E-Books, and traditional classrooms are already being replaced by virtual classrooms. So, instead of resisting change, we should embrace the development of the technologies which move at a very fast pace.

Suggestions/Recommendations:

As much as the content is good, great or superb, people will still fall into the trap of their first impression. Thus, the layout must be eye-catchy and eye-candy enough to instantly draw them onto the coursewares/websites. This is because, people will ALWAYS judge a book by its cover, whether we like it or not. Similarly, the technology used to develop the wares/sites must not be simplistic and meager to attract yawns than oohss. Expectations are HIGH when it comes to technology, so raise up the bar, make it highly interactive without being too heavy to load and too messy to bother with. Because at the end of the day, humans are just humans. Just give them what they want, but make sure you have your own beliefs and principles as well.

It is from the foundation that a great building is built, a great person is developed, and a great world is evolving into. ^__^

The Big T.

TECHNOLOGY IS SUPPOSED TO MAKE OUR LIVES EASIER.

And NOT the other way around.

With that view in mind, evaluation of CALL coursewares, materials and websites should be a natural CALL-ing given that nothing and nobody is perfect. On one note, we are dealing with human aka the students as the end users to such products, and on the other, we must not let the producers and publishers to be 'syok sendiri' into thinking that theirs are the best. We all tend to have that feeling of self-fulfillment, and none judges us better than the outsiders.

For the second question, let's face it. All pen and paper make for a good clerk and even more wastes to the environment. But I believe that above all, the utmost ulterior benefit of using JCloze gives the students the benefit of the 'hands-on' experience of learning with the twofold motives of teaching English, as well as 'befriending' them to the Big T.

Another benefit would be in terms of being economical both in time and resources. Thus, instead of students having to go through a series of correction which would easily frustrate them with the tedious 'chores', technology through the use of PC can remove such frustration with its features with requires no 'rubber' eraser and all.

Embedding is also made possible with technology with the inclusion of hint. Surely that cannot be achieved smoothly through the conventional method, can it? I doubt it can.

All these cater to the element of interaction which is essential to everyone's need, albeit via a 'lifeless' form which is the computer. Technology does it all for them.

If it makes our lives easier, bingo! That's technology for you. ^__^

In Class Task 2

I decided to make an exercise on Drag and Drop.

The topic is Occupation and my grammar item of choice was the Transitive Verb.

The rationale behind my exercise is so that the students will know what a particular occupation does and thus hopefully, they will respect such job, such as TEACHER.

The FIRST.

It has been a year since I was required to blog academically for evaluation purposes. While the activity may be simple as it is, I would try my best to blog to cater to the lecturer's preferences. So here's how it goes.

1) Please introduce yourself.

My name is Ahmad Irwan bin Abd Aziz but I don't usually go by that name. Lol. I was born on October the 15th, 1985 so you can pretty much do the maths on what my age is. But as far as dates count, I am still 24 years old. You might be wondering, why is my age not tally with the rest or most of the batch. As simple as it is, I used to take a Diploma in Business Studies (DBS) in UiTM Lendu, Alor Gajah from June 2003 - 2006 before I pursued my B.Ed. TESL. I've tried to change course to Pre TESL back then to no avail. So I waited, and it was worth the wait.

2) How would you rate yourself in terms of your computer skill and why?

This question is tricky. I wanted to say I am tech-savvy, but I'm not really that close to match the criteria of one. I do possess some decent basic computer skills, I think, such as restoring the system, if that counts. I can type pretty fast since I used to take the time to memorize the keys so the keys are pretty much at the back of my hand. If skills concern the administrative functions, then it would be so-so. I know, and I don't.

3) What computer software and hardware knowledge do you have?

This question is complicated, and not. I remembered the first time this machine called computer was brought into our living room. My curiosity was at its peak that I attempted to explore the computer with almost zero knowledge of the application and all. However hard it was, I considered myself lucky, since my sister used to take a Bachelor in I.T. in University Malaya. I remembered all the programming language books she used to bring back to home. I was curious about this C++ thingy but was never too interested to learn them.

To answer this question, I would say that other than the vital and most basic Microsoft Word, I know how to use Microsoft Front Page however limited it is. My early experience with the software dated back in my secondary years. I remembered wanting to have a website on my own so badly (and the Geocities thingy didn't really grow on me much) that I explored on creating one my own, despite never really finished one. I remembered playing with the programming language, adding up marquees, effects and forms into the process. It was fun and somewhat too much for it to be loaded considerably fast. Until this day, I find the form box to be tricky.

My experience with Microsoft Excel was majorly when we were taking the Principles of Testing and Evaluation (PTE) course. Having to insert and calculate all those figures, it would be ludicrous to not learn to use it, wouldn't it? Despite struggling here and there, that was the most hands-on experience I had had, and I gotta say I almost forget everything of them. Talk about Short Term Memory, LOL.

Having taking 2 courses in computers back in Diploma and 1 during my Degree in the first semester, I would say that all it takes would be some refreshing and probably even more learning. Even so, I never know how to use the Photoshop and Illustrator, although I had meddled with Macromedia Flash MX when I was attempting to create the web site, and found the experience to be amuzing.

Overall, I would say that my skill is 'just nice' to survive, however gasping it may be.

As for the hardware, let's just say that I know what is what, and which is which. Especially in installing a desktop pc with the colored wires and all. Just the wires, not the inside part, of motherboard and all, mind you.

4) Have you ever experienced learning via the computer?

If learning online minus the conference thingy, I would say I have had some experience. Most of them revolve around self-learning, particularly on language. If learning is as broad as it is, I would say that I learn almost everyday via the computer, be it from blogs, websites or even chatrooms. Because if knowledge is the arrival of meaning, then I believe that I had arrived to the meanings from time to time.

5) Did you try to incorporate technology in your some of your lessons during your practicum? Was it a success or a failure? If you did not what was/were the reason(s)?

Sadly, I didn't try it due to the technologically-challenged of a school of the school. There was once where I decided to use the laptop to at least conduct a listening lesson based on song, but failed to do so since I did not have speakers and could borrow none from anyone. I was appalled, definitely but frustrated - not so much.

6) What is your opinion on the use of computer/technology in language teaching?

Well, I have mixed feeling on the use of the technology. For the pros, well it definitely facilitates the learning to be better and easier and more ease in the transition. A lot of things could also be done, given the ever-growing of the technology. The plus factor would be that it would be more fun than 'chalk and talk'.

For the cons, well first of all, we must be realistic that not all students have a computer in their home. Until we conduct consensus and find that proves to be otherwise, the feasibility is what worries me rather than the effectiveness. Unless the government is rich enough to allocate fundings for every student to have a computer (that's what they have been doing, although it is limited to schools), what can mere hours at school, with other things to be attended to, can do wonders to teaching?

With respect to language teaching, I would think that it would be mostly beneficial should it be implemented on a large scale. The popularity of the BESTA digital dictionary and such proves that the physical weight can be lifted off the students' shoulders and to focus on the weight of the definitions. E-books are also one of the greatest gift to reading and learning for people who are just too lazy to carry books around (or afraid to be labelled as geeks) and also contributes towards the conservation of the environment. Much resources are available and readily accessible, but like I said, unless every home has a computer, it would only bring about larger and larger digital divide.

7) What are your expectations from this course?

I would say that I am expecting to be more friendly with the computer. I have to admit that I am somehow a computer-phobic, especially for work purposes. I would rather use pen and paper to scribble on and whatnot, but I have to be realistic as well as we are living in the 21st centuries. To be more deliberate, I would say that I am expecting to learn and explore more of the machine and the seemingly vast and endless capabilities it can perform. On one note, I always wonder how a supercomputer works and to be able to see one would be a memorable event. I am expecting to learn the tips and tricks, especially channeled towards the learning and teaching as well as everything else where computer is concerned. But above all, I am expecting to be able to learn language myself with the assistance of the computer towards a richer and better learning before I shall be ready to impart the knowledge to others.

I guess that is all. I seek your forgiveness in advance should you find this entry to be overwhelmingly lengthy.